companion ghost

After Shen Lie returned to the prosecutor's seat, he turned his head and saw Casey in the jury seat who was worried, and gave him a calm look. When Judge Donovan also returned to the judge's seat, he continued what he had just said : "Your Honor, the prosecution requests the calling of an eyewitness: Layla Seyatt."

After Judge Donovan nodded, the bailiff opened the door and Leila walked in and took a seat on the witness stand.

Leila is not wearing revealing clothes today when she was standing on the street, but a simple white shirt and black skirt, with light makeup, and Kathy almost didn't recognize her.

Shen Lie was also quite surprised. Although he issued a subpoena, he really didn't have much hope.Leila didn't show up when she was rehearsing for the court yesterday, but she didn't expect that not only did she show up today, she also fit her identity in court.After all, Shen Lie had encountered too many people who came to court wearing a camisole, miniskirt, high platform and high heels. The faces of the jury and the judge were so pretty, and it was lucky that he didn't lose that case.

In fact, even if Leila doesn't show up today, he can understand.

Generally speaking, in court, people who are at the bottom or sympathetic in social cognition, such as prostitutes and rape victims, have a common characteristic that they are controversial.

The defense attorney would attack them in court with whatever black material he could find, just to prove to the jury that this witness was unreliable and that what she said was false.

In court, they are the ones who suffer the most.

Shen Lie looked at Leila and sighed almost inaudibly.

I only hope that the woman who knows the most can be tough enough.

"Miss Siyat, first of all thank you for coming to court." Shen Lie said, Leila smiled at him.

Then he began to ask formally: "Where were you on Sunday last month?"

"In a villa on the outskirts of Manhattan."

"That time period, that location, happened to be the Hudson University fraternity party that the defendant was in charge of?"

"Yes," Leila affirmed, "I was the waiter at the time."

Shen Lie walked to her side slowly: "Did you meet the defendant that day?"

"I've seen it," Leila said with a clear mind and a calm tone, acting too well to look like a prostitute, "The first time was when I was preparing, Joanna brought the porridge she made to the students who were preparing for work. , I thought she had a good personality and was pretty, so I couldn’t help but pay more attention.”

"What about the second time?" Shen Lie asked following her words.

"The second time was when I went to the kitchen to get a drink," Leila said. "I saw Joanna dragging something into a room. I was very puzzled. I waited for about 10 minutes. When she came out, I sneaked in. gone."

Shen Lie walked back to the table and asked as he walked, "What did you see when you entered the room?"

Leila was silent for a while, and then said: "The unrecognizable corpse and the blood all over the place."

"And what did you do?"

"I saw a ring in a pool of blood," Layla said, "I picked it up and took it away."

"Exhibit B," Shen Lie held up the plastic bag, which contained a ring, "it has been tested that there is the DNA of the defendant Joanna and the blood of the victim Peggy."

After finishing speaking, he nodded to Leila: "Thank you, there is no other question."

"Miss Seyate," the defense attorney Gary stood up smiling, "May I ask what your job is?"

coming!

Shen Lie's heart tightened, and he stood up: "Objection! It's irrelevant, Your Excellency. What Miss Siyat does has nothing to do with this case."

"How can it be irrelevant?" Gary retorted, "If the work Miss Sarter is doing is not trustworthy, how can her testimony be accepted?"

Shen Lie was laughed angrily: "It's funny, what kind of trust or distrust is there in work? Do you trust your work, lawyer?"

"What if she's lying for a living? Is that trustworthy?" Gary pressed.

"you--"

"That's it!" Judge Donovan tapped the small hammer. "Lawyers come forward!"

Both Shen Lie and Gary walked from their seats to the front of the judge's bench. On the way, Shen Lie lowered his voice and said, "You know she's not a liar!"

Gary smiled half-smile, and his tone was full of arrogance and disdain: "What's the difference between a prostitute and a liar?"

Shen Lie didn't want to talk to him at all. Compared with him, Klein was like a little angel.

Judge Donovan looked at them sternly from behind his glasses: "Stop making a scene in my court."

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency," Shen Lie readily apologized, "but Miss Seyate's occupation really has nothing to do with the case."

"Your Excellency, this is related to whether the witness is a reliable witness," Gary said immediately afterward, "The jury must have a comprehensive understanding of the case, otherwise it will be biased."

"You said Seiyat's profession will prejudice the jury!" Shen Lie was furious.

"Okay!" Judge Donovan pressed his temple with a headache, "The objection is invalid, you go back!"

Gary glanced at Shen Lie victoriously, wanting to see this arrogant and powerful Asian prosecutor look deflated and angry, but he didn't expect the latter to completely ignore him, and strode back to his seat, making him feel as if he had punched him Cotton, very stuffy.

Shen Lie glanced at Leila apologetically, and the latter smiled back indifferently.

Gary then asked, "Tell the jury about your occupation, Miss Sartre."

Not afraid of the disdain and contempt in his tone, Leila replied generously: "Stand on the street."

The jury was a little surprised at how it was said so frankly.

Gary smiled; "Do you think your career is worthy of others' trust?"

Leila also responded with a half-smile: "Why not? I give my body, and I get money. I don't need to lie to anyone, and I don't care if others lie to me."

Gary didn't expect this woman to be so eloquent, so he couldn't help but decide to increase his intensity: "Is that so? But why, according to the records, you once accused one of your clients of raping you?"

Leila's pupils shrank suddenly, and even her breathing became a little short.

Seeing that she didn't fight back, Gary asked triumphantly: "And then when the trial was held, you withdrew the accusation again. Isn't that a lie?"

Shen Lie frowned suddenly, and searched through the stack of documents at hand, but couldn't find this record.

Casey in the jury opened his mouth, and whispered to Dino, "It's over, it's over, we didn't find this when we investigated the background."

Dino also shook his head in doubt.

"Of course," Gary said, "you hadn't changed your name back then, you were still called Susan Evans. You'd been living as Layla Seate for four years, and you were used to lying, weren't you? How do we know you're not lying now?"

"Objection! Malicious speculation!" Shen Lie looked at Gary coldly.

But before Judge Donovan could decide whether the dissent should take effect, Layla spoke.

Leila's chest heaved a few times, she looked directly at Gary, and said, "What do you mean when you say I'm lying? Does it mean that a prostitute has no chance of being raped, or that a prostitute deserves to be raped?"

Gary clicked, and then said: "...Of course not."

Ning Yuan was beside him angrily: "That's what he thinks! How come prostitutes are not human!"

Shen Lie patted his hand comfortingly.

There are such people in this world.

Look down on people who are lower than themselves, and think that they are superior in every way.

But what about the fact?

The more you are like this, the more people who are higher than you will see you like this.

Leila smiled mockingly: "Then you mean that I lied when I filed the accusation and then withdrew it? If you were beaten unconscious in the alley for five consecutive days after you filed the accusation, and someone wrote at the door Full of abusive language, newspaper headlines are all about you, your original life is a mess, if you don't withdraw the accusation, then you are awesome, I admit to lying."

Then, without waiting for Gary to ask, she continued: "If you are referring to my changing my name and surname, if you can continue to live as if it didn't happen after going through all this, ignoring the eyes of the people around you, that's okay. You are amazing, I admit that I lied."

"I lied so I could live," Layla said, looking away from Gary and at the jury. "I changed my name and changed my surname and wandered from my hometown to New York so I could survive. But what good is lying to me now?" Whether I go to court or not, my life will be like this."

Gary was interrupted by Leila's words, and his expression was very bad. Seeing that many jurors showed sympathetic eyes, he couldn't ask any more questions, so he hurriedly said that there was no problem and returned to his seat.

Judge Donovan's tone was much softer when he told Leila to let her go down.

Ning Yuan let out a breath, and his smiling eyes curled up: "It seems that our key witness is very good at speaking."

Shen Lie nodded, but he had some doubts in his heart.

Just too eloquent.

Doesn't sound like a whore.